Due to receiving numerous reports over the last few months, the Onslow County Sheriff’s Office is warning property owners about an increasingly popular real estate scam being seen across the United States.
The Scam
A suspect posing as the owner of a vacant lot seeks to sell the lot and subsequently contacts a local real estate broker either by email or phone (not in person), claiming to be the rightful owner.
The suspect submits various documents to the broker, which are intended to validate their identity as the owner of the parcel to be sold.
The broker, satisfied with the documentation and communication, lists the property as agreed, and the property eventually sells (in some cases). It’s not until after the new deed is recorded at the Register of Deeds—with the new owner’s name—that the actual owner discovers their property was sold fraudulently.
In many cases, the real owner will find out about the listing and stop it before the property goes under contract. However, the scammer may already have received due diligence money or, in some cases, even completed the sale. This can lead to injury to the real owner, buyer, brokers, and closing attorneys. In some cases, the owner will have to go to court to resolve the matter with the buyer.
The Sheriff’s Office has investigated these incidents and determined there is an international component to these ongoing scams. These scams frequently end in frustration due to the suspect's anonymity and the obvious jurisdictional issues law enforcement must abide by.
The common element is that scammers usually target undeveloped land, vacant or abandoned properties, or properties in a trust where an owner has recently died.
Awareness
The Sheriff’s Office has contacted the Jacksonville Board of Realtors and the Onslow County Register of Deeds to inform them of the scam.
Real estate brokers have been advised to verify the identity of lot owners desiring to sell their lot via live video communication (Zoom, FaceTime, etc.) and obtain a copy of their issued identification.
The Register of Deeds has a real-time property fraud protection site called Property Check. It allows property owners to sign up for alerts when a real estate document is recorded with their name. https://deeds.onslowcountync.gov/External/Sentry/Home.aspx To be clear, this is an after-the-fact protection that is not meant to prevent the scam from happening. While the alert system will inform if a real estate document has been recorded with your name, property owners are asked to stay vigilant and report any unusual or suspicious dealings to law enforcement. For further media inquiries or questions, please contact Public Information Officer Trevor Dunnell at (910) 219-4936 ext. 4936, cell (910) 787-4216, or email trevor_dunnell@onslowcountync.gov.